High School is a monumental time in our lives where you get your first taste of freedom. We go on first dates, sneak out with friends to parties and experience new things that make us feel older and cooler. It is a time to grow and start molding into the person you want to be for the rest of your life. These things and people you experience in high school impact your life whether you want them to or not.
The surviving students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida have lived through the terror of seeing seventeen of their fellow classmates and teachers die in front of their eyes. THEY will never be able to forget the sound of gunshots ringing throughout the hallways. THEY know what it feels like to be just a trigger pull away from death.
THEY are the ones who are giving a voice to those who have lost theirs to guns.
All in a span of nine days these students have:
-attended CNN Town Hall Meeting
-pressured President Donald Trump to call for bump stock ban
-convinced Marco Rubio to commit to Gun Reforms he previously did not support
-telling advertisers to leave the NRA
-encouraged student’s around the nation to step up and fight with them
-inspired celebrities to give money to “March for Our Lives” rally & “Never Again” organization
Adults and politicians are shaking in their boots because these teens are calling them on their B.S. and demanding the change that this nation needs. Some are even trying to brush their opinions off like it is just another teenage meltdown.
Of course they are upset! The things they have gone through are things that should never happen to anyone. They are telling us their story and what they want to happen to prevent another school shooting.
One of the best things about being so young is that you don’t really have anything to lose. You still have the drive to want to make the world a better place. So yes, these students have every same right to express their opinions as anyone else. I am here to listen, and quite honestly, there’s lots of people who are here for it too.
Regardless of your political views, it is obvious that something needs to be changed. Whether it’s about guns or not, America needs to come together and fix this problem before another kid dies in a place that should be considered safe. If these students are trying to do something about it when nobody else is, then I say we let them be the beautiful, passionate and empowering kids that they already are and stand with them in this fight!
“Our Neighbors will not have to go through other school shooter drills when we have had our say with the government, and maybe the adults have gotten used to saying, ‘it is what it is,’ but if us students have learned anything it’s that if you don’t study, you will fail, and in this case, if you actively do nothing, people continually end up dead, so it’s time to start doing something!” – Emma Gonzalez, Surviving student of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting